Mba 530 Uop

Problem Solution: Intersect Investments

MBA/520 - Transformational Leadership

Problem Solution: Intersect Investments

This document will discuss the issues that are facing Intersect Investment, Inc. (Intersect). The company must take immediate action if it is to survive in its industry. It has a high turnover rate in both its client and employee base. It is losing the confidence of Wall Street and its investors, which have caused revenue and the stock price to drop. It will need to make a complete change to its management of service philosophies. There are several methods that this can be accomplished, but the method chosen be Intersect will be for it to become a 'customer intimacy' firm. That is, it will take each individual investor and form a relationship with it to create a specific investment plan for them. It is hoped that this will turn the company around and place it back on stable ground and once again allow it to be one of the best in its industry.

Situation Analysis

Issue and Opportunity Identification

Intersect Investments, Inc. (Intersect) is experiencing a large annual turnover in its customer/client base, approximately 25% annually. This has caused a loss of confidence on Wall Street and a drop in their stock price. Associated with the company's drop in its standing was a loss of confidence amongst its employees. This has caused a large turnover with them as well, 'Internal forces for change come from inside the organization. These forces may be

subtle, such as low job satisfaction, or can manifest in outward signs, such as low productivity

and conflict' (Kreitner and Kinicki, 2003).. Thus the company's productivity drops as the new employees 'come up to speed'. This issue only adds to the Intersect's woes. As company representatives leave, the clients lose a sense of connection with the company. This is where the cycle continues to bombard the company. Lack of confidence from both entities only continue and accelerate a downward spiral. Intersect must take aggressive action to turn themselves around and capture their once industry leading company. They must create a 'customer intimacy' culture that will keep clients on a long term 'relationship'. They must reassure the client that they are best served by Intersect so that they will not look to another firm simply because of a lower cost for services. If this is successful, then the representatives will also have financial success as well as confidence with the company, which should then lead to longer lived employee residency.

Stakeholder Perspectives/Ethical Dilemmas

There are several stakeholders with various interests involved with the issues confronting Intersect Investments, Inc. One such group is the Senior Management Team of the corporation. This team is highly interested in the current and future standing of the company. Understanding that currently this standing is not stable and is not where the company wishes to be, that is in the top three of its industry, they are concerned with what the company's future direction will be. The issue is whether keeping the current method will eventually bring the company out of its current situation, or is an organizational change needed.

There will be decisions that the leadership must make with the chosen path of providing services with 'customer intimacy' as its new platform. There will be some who will immediately share in the new direction, and others who will accept and assist in making the new direction a successful one. There will also be some entities however that will not agree with the new concept. This group will not only voice their disagreement, but also not provide services in such a way as to demonstrate to all those involved that Intersect is cohesive and competent in its endeavor to better itself. Some of these will be key players and long time employees. Intersect will need to decide what strategies it will employ in an attempt to 'win them over' or be prepared to separate from them if it cannot.

Another group with interests in Intersect's business decisions are the company stockholders specifically or Wall Street in general. With the company losing clients, revenue, and employees, those who have purchased or may purchase the company stock are very concerned with the current downward trend in the company's revenue and client confidence. This group is needed so that Intersect has the necessary capital to continue to provide solid and quality service. They will definitely keep a close eye on the immediate trends as they transpire with the company as well as any press released made that will shed some light on the current situation and what actions, if any, will be taken to mitigate it. The employees are also very interested in the decisions that Intersect will make with respect to the clients and employees it has lost. Clients are the method of which most of the employees make revenue, if they cannot hold on to them or they do not see a proactive approach being performed by the company be successful once more, they may, as others have done, decide to leave for 'greener pastures'. This would cause many negative issues for Intersect. The loss of any representatives with which a client is comfortable with, may cause a loss of that client as well. The new employees hired to replace those who leave will need time to be as proficient as those who have left. During this time, even more clients may leave the company due to lack of professional or competent service, 'Costs include decreased employee loyalty, lowered probability of achieving corporate goals, a waste of money and resources, and difficulty in fixing the failed change effort' (Kreitner and Kinicki, 2003).

One cannot forget the client stakeholder group as well. If the clients believe in the company and its new direction as sincere, then they will have a major impact on whether or not this endeavor is successful. If they feel that the change is simply cosmetic then the same trend of business loss will continue and the company may find itself in even greater problems and perhaps fail as a company altogether.

Problem Statement

Intersect Investments, Inc. will commence an organizational change to its culture that will focus on 'customer intimacy' in order to recapture its previous success and stability. The focus will be in spending more time evaluating the individual clients' needs